Sarah Long Bridge planning shifts into high gear

Friday

May 31, 2013 at 2:00 AM

KITTERY, Maine — A number of key decisions have been made about the new Sarah Mildred Long Bridge, Seacoast residents learned Thursday night as they raised issues ranging from concern over construction noise to curiosity over the type of materials that will be used on the new bridge.

Deborah McDermott

KITTERY, Maine — A number of key decisions have been made about the new Sarah Mildred Long Bridge, Seacoast residents learned Thursday night as they raised issues ranging from concern over construction noise to curiosity over the type of materials that will be used on the new bridge.

About 40 people attended an information session at the Kittery Community Center that was sponsored by the Maine Department of Transportation, which is the lead agency on the new $160 million bridge.

Key to both Maine and New Hampshire, which co-own the span, is to create a bridge that can be built as economically as possible while still achieving something that is aesthetically pleasing. Linda Figg, president of bridge designer FIGG Engineering, said the design team is working "to achieve a bridge you will enjoy looking at and that will be incredibly functional for many years to come."

Among the decisions announced Thursday are the following:

A schedule has been laid out. Work is expected to begin in September 2014 and the new bridge will open by November 2017. The alignment has been selected. The new bridge bulges into the river slightly upstream from the existing bridge, although it will come into Portsmouth, N.H., and Kittery at essentially the same place it does today. Transportation officials said several months ago that they were looking into building the bridge right next to the old one, so it could be used for staging. That will no longer be the case. As a result, the old bridge will only be closed for six months — from May to October 2017. If it had been used as staging, it would have had to be closed for a year. The horizontal opening under this new alignment would be 204 feet — marginally wider than the current 200-foot opening. However, the new bridge is more perpendicular to the river than the old bridge. FIGG project manager Jay Rohleder said the maritime community, including Portsmouth Pilots, have agreed in principle to the proposal. The center lift span will be 60 feet off the water, which will reduce the number of times the span has to be raised by 68 percent. On the Kittery side, there will be some marked changes. For one, Oak Terrace is expected to be made into a dead-end street. A pedestrian walkway will be installed underneath the bridge to allow residents from that neighborhood to cross Route 1 Bypass. Bridge Street will come into a T intersection at the bypass, and a traffic light will be installed there. "We think this is going to be a strong improvement to the whole intersection," Figg said. There will be far fewer piers than the current bridge has, "so there's more of an open view underneath," Rohleder said.

The actual bridge design is still undetermined, although it will have the "same kind of functionality and simplicity" as the Garonne Bridge in Bordeaux, France, Figg said. "But it will be something unique and special to you," she said, answering a question from Kittery resident Susan Emery.

Lisa Groux, who lives near the traffic light at the foot of the bridge in Portsmouth, said she was concerned about noise during the long construction period.

"I'm hoping I won't have dump trucks next to my house for the next four years," she said.

Rohleder said the staging area for construction hasn't been decided yet.

Groux's concerns were echoed by Michael Mills, who lives on Bridge Street in Kittery. "I hope you take the time to address neighbors' concerns about the noise. I hope that's taken into consideration," he said.

Figg said planners are seeking to limit construction noise, citing consideration of a type of pier that is less noisy to install than most other piers.

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